If Russia, China, and the United States all sport various shades of totalitarianism, and Europe fractures over it, the world may very well enter a new Dark Age. One that could last a few years or many centuries. - 3 Quarks Daily
From clay tablets to electronic tablets, technology has played an influential role in shaping human knowledge. Today we stand on the brink of the next knowledge revolution. It is one as big as — if not more so — the invention of the printing press, or the dawning of the digital age. - The Conversation
"The wealthiest universities, in particular, must pledge to use all available endowment funds as a backstop for any federal funding cuts to research, educational programs or student financial aid at their schools, barring any donor restrictions." - The New York Times
Common sense has long had two contrasting emphases: an inquiry position that questions prevailing norms and a conservative position that doubles down on prevailing norms. - The Conversation
There is a convincing scientific rationale for why the human self-image is so inaccurate. Evolution has no interest in truth or objectivity. Natural selection favors processes that help us to survive. Beliefs have no need to be truthful, only useful. - The Wall Street Journal
It’s a question that arises at odd moments—sometimes, perversely, when we’re surrounded by people who know us well. Suddenly, we become conscious of an inner sanctum they’ve never breached. - The New Yorker
Since at least the time of peripatetic Greek philosophers, many other writers have discovered a deep, intuitive connection between walking, thinking, and writing. - The New Yorker
Anderson “believed that, because even the smallest items help create a world onscreen, they needed to be ‘fully formed pieces of art and design.’” - The New York Times
Sure, it argued a few weeks ago that the Ku Klux Klan wasn’t that bad. But the real issue is that “it’s as if someone thought American political discourse was too healthy and needed some roughing up.” - Nieman Lab
The human power to view cause-and-effect as part of ‘objective reality’ (a philosophically fraught idea, but for now: the mind-independent world ‘out there’) is so basic, so automatic, that it’s difficult to imagine our experience without it. - Aeon
In domains where I have strong opinions, I spend a lot of time confidently arguing for those opinions and criticising views I think are mistaken. I spend much less time contemplating the possibility I’m deeply mistaken. Even when people tell me I’m wrong—a common occurrence. - Conspicuous Cognition
Scientists are finding experimental evidence that supports what Edison and Dalí knew all along — that the transition between wakefulness and sleep is a portal for creative thought. - Washington Post
Such is the prism of our information environment that AI discourse has become nearly as polarized as politics. Online influencers have sorted themselves into camps that include starry-eyed “accelerationists,” Cassandra-like “doomers” and skeptics who dismiss the technology as modern-day snake oil. - Washington Post
There are two errors we must avoid if we want to get closer to the truth: we shouldn’t believe things that are false, and we shouldn’t discount things that are true. If we focus solely on reducing belief in false content, as current efforts tend to do, we risk targeting one error at the expense of the other. -...
